Life, the Universe, & Running

Daily Chase: Vol. 46

This past week marked a second week of gloomy, overcast, rainy weather in the Delaware valley, and I found myself in need of some vitamin D. Ironically, it took a much-needed trip back to Iowa over the weekend to find the sun, and that element of travel made the week even busier. Today marks one year since my arrival in Delaware, and it certainly has flown by. It’s been a year of significant change in pretty much every aspect of my life, and running has been one of the few constants throughout this process. If there was ever any doubt about the meditative and psychological benefits of running, this past year has removed it and made me even more committed to lifetime of lacing up my shoes!

Chasing42 Log: 20160502- 20160509

Run: My legs needed a bit of recovery time after pushing it during the Delaware Trail Marathon, so I took things relatively easy this week. I tossed in some tempo work, but ultimately wanted to make sure I was in good shape for a trip to Iowa for the Market to Market Relay and a reunion with an amazing group of friends! After a gloomy week, I arrived in Iowa on Friday and was greeted by 80 degree weather and sunshine. My run on Friday was the warmest yet this year, but it felt great to be running with friends I hadn’t seen since leaving, and to be hitting familiar roads I have run more times than I can count. On Saturday, the relay itself far exceeded my expectations and made for an amazing weekend of reconnecting with old friends and making new friends. I ended up running 8 of the 17 legs of the relay, for around 35 miles of total distance (full report coming up!). I’ve kept it simple the last two days, giving my legs some time to recover…and rest up for the Dirty German 50 miler this coming weekend!

Thought: The topic of time has been on my mind as of late. More specifically, the importance of finding the time to do something you love every day. Our lives get busy for all sorts of reasons, and at many different times throughout the week and year. All of us, at one point or another, feel as though we don’t have time for one more thing, and the to do list simply won’t get any smaller no matter how much work we do. This often leaves us feeling the pressure to work longer hours, answer just one more email, or read one more article/paper/memo, etc. I’ve never entirely bought into the “work-life balance” mantra that became popular several years ago in many professional circles, in part because I don’t think it was ever viewed over the longterm. The implication always seemed to be that you needed to leave your job at closing time, and go home to enjoy something you love. To me, this always begged the question- “what happens if you love your job and it doesn’t feel like work”? Obviously, this is not the case for many, and as a society, we’ve bought into the idea that you should do whatever makes you the most money and allows you to have fun on the weekends…could this be any more backwards? Work hard doing something you hate for 5 days so you have 2 days to do the things you love? Good luck with that! I’d much rather enjoy what I’m doing, but still remember that there will be hard days, and I need to remember to get out and do something else I love on those days especially. For me, that something is obviously running, and whether I’ve had a long, hard day where I need to work longer, or a wonderful, rewarding day where I want to work longer, I’ll always make time for the run! Don’t forget to always make time for #chasing42!